Aeolidiopsis harrietae Rudman, 1982

Mehrotra, Rahul, A. Caballer Gutierrez, Manuel, M. Scott, Chad, Arnold, Spencer, Monchanin, Coline, Viyakarn, Voranop & Chavanich, Suchana, 2021, An updated inventory of sea slugs from Koh Tao, Thailand, with notes on their ecology and a dramatic biodiversity increase for Thai waters, ZooKeys 1042, pp. 73-188 : 73

Aeolidiopsis harrietae Rudman, 1982 Figure 16L

Material examined.

Two specimens 21-29 mm, LB; one specimen 17 mm, SRB.

Ecology.

Cryptic on their prey, Palythoa sp. which has thus far only been recorded growing on isolated pieces of rubble or artificial substrate (i.e., discarded plastic) in deeper soft sediment habitats outside the coral reef.

Distribution.

Known from Japan ( Ono 2004), Australia ( Rudman 1982), the Philippines and Papua New Guinea ( Gosliner et al. 2008). Previously recorded from the Gulf of Thailand ( Mehrotra and Scott 2016).

Remarks.

Specimens from Koh Tao have papillate rhinophores (similar to Carmona et al. 2014a: fig. 3D) with distinctly white tips, have between 4-6 cerata per row which are the same brown colour as the dorsum with distinctive yellowish to pale brown cnidosacs.

Figures

Figure 16. A Gymnodoris sp. 3 12 mm B Gymnodoris nigricolor 5 mm C Gymnodoris cf. nigricolor 6 mm D Gymnodoris sp. 4 9 mm E Plocamopherus tilesii 90 mm F Polycera sp. 12 mm G Tambja amakusana 6 mm (photograph by Richard Brinke) H Tambja pulcherrima 40 mm (photograph by Liam Kelly) I Tambja sp. 4 mm (photo by Kaitlyn Harris) J Thecacera sp. 6 mm K Anteaeolidiella sp. 15 mm L Aeolidiopsis harrietae 17 mm.